Milky Pine?

[LogDog]

Has anyone used or know anyone who has used milky pine to carve. It just looks like it could be useable because of it's lack of colour and grain, kind of like beech. But I will not get any unless I have some "good oil" on it. It is so plain I would not use it for anything else but just wondering if it carves?
I had my first attempt at carving last weekend at the Cooroy wood and craft show. It was most interesting and I will be looking to do more. I have pleanty of Highly figured Queensland Maple but they tell me I should start with a plain timber. Beech is too expensive for a beginner, maple is too figured for a beginner, and milky pine may be too sappy for carving. Any ideas what I could start with guys?

[powderpost]

Used quite a lot of it to make the frames for hollow panel flush doors. Very stable timber very easy to work. Can have fairly large "capillary" tubes up to 12mm long and a millimetre wide, like slots. I am not a carver, but it is probably good for experimentation and practice pieces. The "milky" bit refers to the milky sap that oozes from cuts or broken branches. Seasoned timber doesn't have this problem.
Jim

[SPIRIT]

l think if timber is flat in colour and grain you may as well carve in clay

[Barry_White]

I used to use it as a Patternmaker over 50 years ago, From what I remember it was easy to work.

[Paul NQ]

I believe Milky Pine, may also be called cheesewood, and as Barry_White has said patternmakers use/have used it.

If like me you don't know what a pattern maker does - at least one avenue of their work involves creating timber models to be used to create moulds for casting metal - such as might be used to create large metal gears (I hope Barry doesn't need to correct me on this)

I have used a little of it (never finished the particular piece - but keep stumbling over it every now and then - might finish it one day) - and found it easy to carve by chisel and knife, by hand. It was never meant as an "exhibition" piece as it is a bland "white" timber. And it certainly wasn't sappy for the seasoned timber.

So, really, I am just re-iterating what all the others have said. If for nothing else, it should help you think about how you go about carving what you represent. Part of my piece involved carving gum leaves, so I had to think about how to carve the outline, the stalk,the veins, how one leaf lay over another, etc. A learning experience, even if the timber itself is not spectaculary figured. You could also consider pyrography to highlight your item or painting it as you might see done by a lot of American carvers.